Monday, April 27. 2009
A version of the Turing Test now running in Second Life could one day prove that humanity is truly intelligent
Monday, April 27, 2009
Various versions of the Turing test have been put forward over the years but only one is so tough that even humans haven't yet passed it. That will change if Florentin Neumann at the University of Paderborn in Germany and a couple of pals have their way.
This alternate exam is called the Hofstadter-Turing Test, after Douglas Hofstadter who put forward a version of the idea in an essay called Coffee House Conversation in 1982. Here's how it works (pay attention because it contains a certain circularity to the argument):
An entity passes the Hofstadter-Turing Test if it first creates a virtual reality, then creates a computer program within that reality which must finally recognise itself as an entity within this virtual environment by passing the Hofstadter-Turing Test.
Spot the tricky circularity to this test? Players can only pass if they create a virtual intelligence which must then pass the test itself. And since that hasn't been achieved by any human in history, nobody has yet passed.
What's interesting about the paper though, is that Neumann and co claim that humanity is moving closer to achieving a pass. First of all, we're half way there because we've already built various virtual worlds. And now Neumann and co claim to have implemented a version of the Hofstadter-Turing Test in the Second Life virtual world.
"We have succeeded in implementing within Second Life the following virtual scenario: a keyboard, a projector, and a display screen. An avatar may use the keyboard to start and play a variant of game classic Pac-Man, i.e. control its movements via arrow keys."
They go on to say:
"With some generosity, this may be considered as 2.5 levels of the Hofstadter-Turing Test:
1st: The human user installs Second Life on his computer and sets up an avatar.
2nd: The avatar implements the game of Pac-Man within Second Life.
3rd: Ghosts run through the mace on the virtual screen.
Observe that the ghosts indeed contain some (although admittedly very limited)
form of intelligence represented by a simple strategy to pursue Pacman."
They're absolutely right that taking this on board requires a remarkable amount of generosity: the Ghosts in a Pacman game are unlikely to ever put in a decent challenge in any other type of Turing Test.
But suppose we give them the generosity they desire. The process raises some interesting ways of analysing the various levels of reality that could occur when machines become intelligent. And what of the possibility that our efforts may be validating the intelligence of a programmer exactly one level higher than us?
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0904.3612: Variations of the Turing Test in the Age of Internet and Virtual Reality
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Via MIT Technology Review
Personal comment:
Où l'on reparle du Test de Turing et 2nd Life... Raisonnement un peu étriqué, mais qui n'est pas sans rappeler par certains aspects le côté absurde d'Electroscape 004 (AI vs AI in self space).
Friday, April 17. 2009
Composer JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, director of the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) at UC Santa Barbara, demos the AlloSphere [ucsb.edu] at a TED talk, and show an entirely new way to see and interpret scientific data, in full color and surround sound inside a 3-story high, massive metal sphere.
Some of the claims seem a bit far-fetched, but the presentation is amazing and compelling nonetheless. The presentation lets you dive into the brain, feel electron spin, hear the music of the elements. Works shown include an interactive visualization of unique atomic bonds, an immersive art installation bringing forth a complex ecosystem of creativity and a multimodal representation of quantum mechanics.
Watch the video HERE.
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Via Information aethetics
Personal comment:
L'architecte Marcos Novak, rencontré lors de Postopolis!LA, m'a parlé de cette sphère de visualisation (et proposé d'y réaliser un travail). Il est lui-même enseignant en architecture à UCSB et a utilisé l'Allosphere à différente reprise.
Wednesday, January 21. 2009
If you’ve been watching CNN’s coverage of Inauguration Day, one piece of technology that you might have noticed was Microsoft Photosynth, which allows you to navigate a collection of photos in 3D. To make it work, CNN asked users to submit photos of “the moment,” when Barack Obama was sworn in as President.
The results are stunning – a 3D view of the Inauguration, allowing you to zoom in and out and see the moment from various vantage points. There’s also a slideshow mode that will automatically flip through the various pictures that have been submitted. It takes a bit of getting used to the controls, but once you do, you can basically experience the swearing in from the vantage point of looking up at Obama, or looking out at the mass of people on the national mall.
Today’s feature on CNN is certainly an awesome showcase for Photosynth, a technology that Microsoft first debuted back in 2006. It obviously works best when there are tons of photos being taken of the same event - like today - though Photosynth also has potential to be used in 3D location imagery and maps – much like Google Street View.
It should be noted that it also requires a Silverlight download – much like the streaming of Obama’s address on the official inauguration website. Between the two, it’s likely that Microsoft got Silverlight installed on thousands if not millions of more machines today - personally the download link didn’t even work for 20-30 minutes.
For broader 3D imagery from today’s events, Microsoft has also launched Photosynth.net.
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Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:
CNN Sets Live Video Record with 13+ Million Streams
Microsoft Photosynth To Appear On CSI:New York
Microsoft’s Photosynth is Out of Beta
Microsoft Virtual Earth Team Takes Control of 3D Photosynth Engine
Eat That, Street View: Photosynth Comes to Live Maps
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Via Mashable
Personal comment:
On en avait plus entendu parler depuis un moment, mais les démos étaient plutôt convaincantes. Revoilà donc Photosynth qui semble ne plus être en version beta selon le blog Mashable.
Et puis il faut soulgner cette tendance nouvelle qu'ont les médias télévisés de sortir un nouveau gadget technologique/télévisuel (ici à nouveau CNN, après l'"hologramme" --en réalité un insert-- de la soirée des éléction) à chaque événement médiatique.
Monday, December 22. 2008
Have you checked out New York City in Google Earth lately? You should, because Google added a layer of photorealistic building textures which make the city look like something from a decent flight simulator. Or, in one word: awesome!
Google has been adding new photorealistic textures for many months now, and the users themselves have contributed. As a result, there’s almost no important landmark in NYC without a 3D model. See for yourself in the screenshots below:
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Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:
Terrorists Using Google Earth to Target Israel
Google’s Earth Day Mashup: Maps + YouTube
Google Earth and NASA Complete Project
Google Earth Enterprise Version Update Released
Google Earth Shows Real-Time Traffic
Google Earth Updates Images
Google Earth Comes To Your Browser
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Via Mashable
Personal comment:
Pas encore "awesome"... mais c'est vrai qu'il est intéressant de voir GE évoluer de jour en jour vers un "monde miroir" (quoiqu'il s'agisse d'autre chose que d'un miroir) de plus en plus complet et dynamique pour ce qui concerne les données géoréférencées.
Thursday, December 18. 2008
Abstract
We describe a set of rendering techniques for an autostereoscopic light field display able to present interactive 3D graphics to multiple simultaneous viewers 360 degrees around the display. The display consists of a high-speed video projector, a spinning mirror covered by a holographic diffuser, and FPGA circuitry to decode specially rendered DVI video signals. The display uses a standard programmable graphics card to render over 5,000 images per second of interactive 3D graphics, projecting 360-degree views with 1.25 degree separation up to 20 updates per second. We describe the system's projection geometry and its calibration process, and we present a multiple-center-of-projection rendering technique for creating perspective-correct images from arbitrary viewpoints around the display. Our projection technique allows correct vertical perspective and parallax to be rendered for any height and distance when these parameters are known, and we demonstrate this effect with interactive raster graphics using a tracking system to measure the viewer's height and distance. We further apply our projection technique to the display of photographed light fields with accurate horizontal and vertical parallax. We conclude with a discussion of the display's visual accommodation performance and discuss techniques for displaying color imagery.
Friday, December 12. 2008
Google has discontinued the Google Earth Plus version which cost $20/year. This move is not surprising because there were only two primary features in the Plus version not already in the free version: GPS support, and limited spreadsheet input support. Both of these capabilities are possible to do with the free version of Google Earth with other tools (free and/or for moderate one-time costs). And, Google states in the announcement that they will be including GPS features in the free version of Google Earth in a future update. Also, for those currently paying the $20/year subscription to GE Plus, Google is offering a deeply discounted subscription to GE Pro for $99 (instead of the regular $400 price). Google is also offering a two-month free trial of GE Pro. Here is a saved view of the web page comparing the different GE versions (including Plus). via OgleEarth.
Here are some links to tools you can use to get the Plus features with the free Google Earth:
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Via Google Earth Blog
Personal comment:
Le GPS intégré dans la version gratuite de Google Earth va certainement impliquer prochainement l'arrivée d'un layer "par défaut" dans GE: une couche qui présenterait des parcours et images/vidéos "taguées" de ces parcours.
On peut aussi imaginer toutes sortes de projets mèlant parcours et fictions ou récits, à la façon des projets de l'artiste Janet Cardiff (les "Walks"). On pense aussi bien sûr aux déambulations situationnistes (les "dérives") ou à la psychogéographie.
Dans un autre registre, EveryTrail est une communauté en ligne dont l'objectif est le partage de parcours, de balades géotaguées effectuées par ses utilisateurs.
Wednesday, December 10. 2008
http://www.works-thoughts.com/
"As a warm-up for the fall quarter, I participated in UCLA’s Digital workshop. Georgina Huljich, partner of P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, was the program director. Rhinoceros was used to create 3D interpretations of the sketches of Ernst Haeckel, a prominent German biologist, naturalist, and philosopher. The articulation of micro-surfaces related to the biological function of the organism was of particular importance in my work..."
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Via Beyond the Beyond (Bruce Sterling)
Personal comment:
Voir sur le site de UCLA. Quelques projets de 3d analogique et générative qui ont l'air intéressants.
D'une certaine façon, on pourrait considérer que "Les algues", de Ronan et Erwann Bouroullec sont alors aussi une 3d analogique générative...
How could a NFL game like this gathered so much national attention : a dysfunctional organization vs underachiever at the week lowest possible viewers’ broadcast - Thursday night football? Both are the losers’ teams of the rich-n-wealthy state of California? No, it was the league historical moment- first ever NFL game shot and live broadcast in 3rd dimensional, and it was aired in HD too. Now that the game was over and since it was broadcasted in selected theaters, and only a few fortunate invitees got to see it; let’s see what the viewers thought about the full digital 3D sport.
Yahoo Tech reported few technical glitches here and there; couple feeds were blacked out in the first half of the same, viewings pulling the goggle off due to few weird effect with sudden camera movement and refocusing. Overall; the audiences love the 3D visual effects despite a dull match-up.
What about the polarized glasses and did it work? The Boston media described the technology in detail “Once your eyes adjusted to the glasses, which didn’t take long, the visuals were stunning, the picture sharp, and when the graphics came up on the screen, you felt as if you could reach out and pluck them off with your fingers.”
The game has not decided the future of 3D sport, but it certainly sparked a few interested parties. The league, team owners and broadcasting committee will meet and discuss the possibility some time before March. Now, guess where the next 3D HD football live broadcast will be? BCS Championship to be held at Miami and live broadcast at CES show 2009! A few lucky us will be there.
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